Obama’s Midwest SS

I wrote three versions of this story over the weekend. I didn’t publish any of them because I didn’t want police harassment and political persecution by St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch. I am embarrassed to admit this, but it demonstrates how dangerous the Democrat party is to American freedom.

After months of abuse, harassment, and threatened prosecution of anyone effectively opposing Barack Obama by a cadre of thugs under the control of Barack Obama’s campaign, St. Louis City and County prosecutors–Jennifer Joyce and Bob McCulloch–issued a joint statement threatening to “target” anyone making unsubstantiated criticism of Barack Obama and promising to “respond to” any ads that question Obama’s character.

Just what they meant by “target” and “respond” remains unclear, though Joyce has since stated she did not intend to prosecute Obama’s political opponents.

That’s irrelevent. Joyce and McCulloch have the power to harass, and by using their offices and titles to announce the threat, they have provably chilled political speech in Eastern Missouri.

Will I be routine pulled over by St. Louis County Police because I have a McCain bumbersticker on my car? Will I get police protection if I’m harassed or threatened by Democrat thugs and gangs?

McCulloch and Joyce have abused their offices and their power by sending a message to Republicans that opposition to Obama will not be tolerated. They have reduced their prestige, which was significant, within the St. Louis area. They look like fools, for sure, but frightening fools. Himmler was the target of American cartoons, but Germans didn’t dare cross him.

From what I can tell, both McCulloch and Joyce are outstanding prosecutors. They’ve each amassed admirable records of making our cities safer. Were they incompetent, their threats would be less chilling.

I would ask that McCulloch and Joyce simply walk away from this issue. Apologize for any confusion raised by their interview with KMOV Channel 4 and affirm that they will not use the power of their offices to advance any national candidate.

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Published by: bhennessy

Bill Hennessy is co-founder of St. Louis Tea Party Coalition, expert in persuasive design and marketing, and author of three books, including The Conservative Manifesto (1993) and Zen Conservatism (2009)
View all posts by bhennessy

4 thoughts on “Obama’s Midwest SS”

John McCain is always citing experience as the ultimate qualification for president. Consider this, President Bush has surrounded himself with the most experience political people in history. And look were we are today.(Total Chaos) Experience is overrated and seems to breed corruption in this country.

“I’m an old high school friend of (St. Louis Circuit Attorney) Jennifer Joyce. Watching that initial KMOV report was like a punch in the gut. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I talked to her on the phone today to try and get her side of the story.

She was very upset at the report. She insisted that she never said or implied that they would ‘target’ anyone or look into any violations of ethics codes and doesn’t know where that line originated. She had zero interest in pursuing any legal action against anyone for any political statements or ads and acknowledged that those kinds of issues wouldn’t involve her office anyway. As far as she was concerned her role would’ve been a typical ‘rapid response’ kind of thing.

She asked KMOV to release the entire unedited footage on their website and they refused. She was reluctant to seem too confrontational with the press that had ‘wronged’ her. (It occured to me after the phone call that this was kind of odd, given that she was so committed to getting the truth out there) In the past, she had considered bringing her own camera/recorder to press events but, again, considered it too accusatory. She said the one bright spot to all this was that now she felt she had ‘carte blanche’ to insist on her own recording devices.

For my part, I explained how the report looked to the rest of us and how, even without the ‘targeting’ language, it looked entirely inappropriate to have two prosecutors standing side by side on behalf of a candidate. I’m still upset about this but she’s shown honor and integrity for as long as I’ve known her and I wanted to try and get her side out there.”

Thanks for the update. The reason I was kind of mild (for me) on the subject was that I know a lot of good police officers, city and county, who praise both Joyce and McCulloch. (And I think I went to DuBourg with Jennifer’s brother.)

I’ll take your word, for now, as the truth. I have the greatest respect for our law enforcement folk, including our prosecutors. What disturbed me about this story was the fact that it damaged Joyce’s and McCulloch’s credibility as law enforcement officers–something we cannot afford.

Please pass along to Jennifer my sincere hopes that this matter is cleared up in her favor and that Republicans have nothing to fear in criticizing Barack Obama. While I’m a Republican and a conservative, I have no desire to hurt her reputation if she’s done nothing to deserve my vituperations.